It's official. Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first living cell to be controlled entirely by synthetic DNA. The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell. The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA. The researchers copied an existing bacterial genome. They sequenced its genetic code and then used "synthesis machines" to chemically construct a copy. Amazing. Of course, the ethical discussions are yet to come.

Otto Bock Healthcare, has developed a mind-controlled technology, which is ready to leave the laboratory and be put to everyday use. It involves a new technique known as targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR), where nerves that once controlled a lost limb are used to control a prosthesis. The transplanted nerves allow electrical impulses from the brain to reach the muscles in the chest. The muscles act like a booster, amplifying the signal to a level that can be picked up by electrodes on the surface of the chest. These signals are interpreted by a micro-computer, and used to control a prosthesis which responds in real time to thoughts from the brain.

This month, Nokia filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming the iPad 3G and iPhone infringe five of its patents. Nokia claims the infringements involve technology used to enhance speech and data transmission and antenna innovations for compact devices.The Nokia lawsuit came on the day Apple announced that its iPad tablet computer will go on sale in nine countries outside the US on 28 May. Go, Nokia!

Researchers engineered a polymer to reproduce the properties of titin - a protein which largely determines the elastic properties of muscle. The authors suggest that the properties of this material could even be fine-tuned to resemble specific types of muscle by adjusting the compositions of the proteins. Initially, the discovery could assist in the healing of tissue tears, acting as a tough stretchy scaffold that allows new tissue to grow across the wound.

Getting less than six hours sleep a night can lead to an early grave, UK and Italian researchers have warned.They also found an association between sleeping for more than nine hours and early death, although that much sleep may merely be a marker of ill health. Sleep journal reports the findings, based on 1.5m people in 16 studies. The study looked at the relationship between sleep and mortality by reviewing earlier studies from the UK, US and European and East Asian countries. Premature death from all causes was linked to getting either too little or too much sleep outside of the "ideal" six to eight hours per night. Interesting... I understand why lack of sleep can be linked to early death, but sleeping for more than 8 hours...?

A German man has unofficially married his cat after the animal fell ill and vets told him it might not live much longer, Bild newspaper reports.It says Uwe Mitzscherlich, 39, paid an actress 300 euros (£260,$395) to officiate at the ceremony, as marrying an animal is illegal in Germany. Never heard of something like that before...

Film director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland, must be present in court in USA if he wants to resolve the case over a conviction for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski left the US in 1978 before he could be sentenced and never returned to US. Polanski is afraid US wants to "serve him on a platter to the media of the world than to pronounce a judgment concerning which an agreement was reached 33 years ago."Polanski directed the movies "The Ninth Gate", "The Pianist", "The Ghost Writer".

A "vaccine" which harnesses the body's own immune system to fight prostate cancer has been approved for use by US drug regulators.The drug is not a "cure" but is used in advanced prostate cancer that has spread to other sites in the body and is no longer responding to standard hormone treatment. Clinical trials showed that the treatment extended the lives of patients by four months.

People who regularly eat chocolate are more depressive, experts have found. Research in Archives of Internal Medicine shows those who eat at least a bar every week are more glum than those who only eat chocolate now and again. Many believe chocolate has the power to lift mood, and the US team say this may be true, although scientific proof for this is lacking. Which means, when you are depressed, you eat chocolate and then you get more depressed and eat more chocolate and gain weight and get more depressed and ahhh..:)